2008 articles

MEPs vote overwhelmingly for ban on cloning

1.Commission urged to prohibit cloning for food after MEPs vote to support ban
2.Issues of concern to animal health and welfare

NOTE: It's great to know MEPs overwhelmingly want the EU to introduce a ban on the cloning of animals for food production, and on the sale of imported food products from cloned animals and their offspring.

This comes just as the Wall Street Journal has confirmed that meat and milk from the offspring of cloned animals is already going into the US food supply.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122031044800588585.html

If the ban goes ahead and the US continues not to exlude meat and milk from the offspring of clones, then a complete EU-wide ban on all imports of US meat and dairy products should follow.
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---1.Commission urged to prohibit cloning for food after MEPs vote to support ban
Farming UK, 3 September 2008
http://www.farminguk.com/Commission-urged-to-prohibit-cloning-for-food-after-MEPs-vote-to-support-ban8460.asp

European parliamentarians today voted with an overwhelming majority in favour of a proposal to ban cloning of animals for food.

No fewer than 630 MEPs voted in favour and only 32 against. The motion for resolution was initiated by the Intergroup on Animal Welfare, and urges the Commission to prohibit cloning of animals for food and any products from cloned animals and their offspring. Cloning is an inefficient process that causes animals to suffer at every stage.

Neil Parish, president of the Parliamentary Intergroup on Animal Welfare, said: "Today MEPs showed they care about animals by voting for a ban on cloning for food. We now call on the Commission to follow their good example and come up with a strong proposal that will protect the welfare of animals."

The news has been welcomed by Eurogroup for Animals, which provides the secretariat for the Intergroup and which has been campaigning against cloning for food.

Director Sonja Van Tichelen said: "After MEPs voted with such an overwhelming majority to oppose cloning of animals for food, the Commission can't afford to ignore their message. It is now up to the Commission to take up the challenge and act to stop cloning of animals for food being approved in the EU.

"Cloned animals suffer from more defects and die earlier than conventionally bred animals. Consumers have not asked for cloning, so why put animals through the pain and distress involved with it?"

The results of a Eurobarometer survey on consumer attitudes towards cloning of animals for food will be published this autumn. After that the Commission is expected to publish its proposal.
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---2.Issues of concern to animal health and welfare

1. The cloning process is inefficient, wastes animals' lives and has a huge potential to cause pain, suffering and distress at all stages of the process.

2. Farm animals are already seen by some as commodities rather than sentient beings. Cloning would compound this view, leading to less concern for animal welfare and less willingness to address welfare issues.

3. The routine use of cloning would greatly reduce genetic diversity within livestock populations, increasing the chances of whole herds being wiped out by disease to which they would all be equally susceptible.

4. The development of animal cloning as a method of food production is being pursued without public consumer awareness and in spite of well-documented public consumer concerns relating to the use of biotechnology in food production (eg GM foods).

5. Routine use of cloning technologies in animal farming would make farmers dependent on patented technologies owned by big companies, compromising food sovereignty.